Ahhhhh...still floating from meeting her ♥

I hope she comes back again soon. It was a great show for sure. I just wish my little(est) sister could have been there with us. Then it would have been perfect! Oh, and I have more pictures to post and even a video. But that will come later. I have a munchkin that needs to be tucked in and read to. :)

I got to meet her...I got to meet her....I GOT TO MEET HER!!!!

I cannot believe it. Tonight, I got to meet THE Ingrid Michaelson!!! (If you don't know who she is, first of all, SHAME on you! Scroll down and play one of her songs off my playlist and you'll know who I'm talking about) My sister and I got to go to her show in Sacramento and afterward we decided to sit for a few minutes and OUT SHE CAME! She signed my CD and we even got to take pictures with her and talk for a few! There weren't many people left in the place so we only had to share her with a handful of other girls. It was stinkin' AWESOME! (Photos to follow later as I didn't take my big ol' camera in there for fear of looking like the paparazzi so I'll post them as soon as I get them from my Sisters camera.)
Anyway, She is a DOLL and her show was phenominal! I had a great, wonderful, MUCH NEEDED night. Although, I don't think my feet have ever hurt this bad before. We stood there, in HEELS, from 8:45pm until 1:30-ish am. Yeah. Ouch.
Oh, and I learned a very valuable lesson from looking at the pictures we took on my sisters camera. Ruffles and tops that flare below the waist are NOT slimming. I've got some serious photoshopping to do before those ones are posted. *Yikes* But until then, I'll leave you all with these little teasers....

LOOK... LOOK....there it is....her signature! I so heart her!

And I know this is only funny because it's almost 3am and I'm deliriously tired, but I put the CD under my desk lamp for light to take the pictures and it looks like I put a hat on her. LOL. I know, right. Hardy har har.Alright. I am taking my seriously unfunny self to bed. My Rockstar energy drink is wearing off in a big way and I'm pooped. Nite!

There is a right way to hold a chicken...

And this definitely isn't it.

Would you look at the face on that kid??? And the look on Penny's face. (Yes, as in "Henny Penny") You can almost hear what she's thinking. "Are you kidding me with this kid?!? I've got no dignity left!" HAHAHA!

OK, Here we go. This is the right way...


My girls LOVE to hold any chickens they can get their hands on. Usually they aren't quick enough to be able to catch one but this one in particular was being rather feisty and kind of aggressive yesterday and chasing after us, so Stinkbug decided she was going to just pick her up to "teach her a lesson". What happened next was pretty funny. Penny fell asleep. She let Stinkbug drag her all over the place and just kept her eyes closed the whole time. (Although, I play possum when I want my kids to leave me alone too, so Penny may be smarter than I'm giving her credit for. ;) )

And after the hold Stinkbug had her in, I think it's safe to say Penny will leave her alone from now on.

Dad, I am still haunted by our Oregon trip.

Oh the memories of indigestion this video brings back...


Hot Pockets. Not for the weak. LOL!

I think I found my answer

Finally, a diet I KNOW I can stick to. Click the banana to read all about it.


I seriously wonder if this diet works? We shall see. I'll get back to you all about it in a month.

Wish me luck! Hahaha

Awhhhh Crap.

What was a small problem, just became a BIG one.



Nice.

Oh, the innocence of children.

This story touched me so much I wanted to share it with you all. What a sweet and amazing little boy! And, like his mommy said, what a POWERFUL lesson from a 4 year old!

Please click here to read this story.

Yummy Recipe Friday- Pumpkin Brownies

And yes, I know I'm a day late. Let's just pretend for arguments sake that it's still Friday. Does it count that the sun wasn't up when I started this post?

OK, so upon cruising some of my FAVORITE recipe sites to find a yummy fall desert to make for my family today, I came across this one. I just HAD to share it. It looks way too good and fits the fall theme a little too perfectly.

Pumpkin-Swirl Brownies
Adapted from Martha Stewart Living By Smitten Kitchen

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, plus more for pan
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 to 3/4 cups sugar (the original recipe calls for the larger amount; I think it could be dialed down a bit)
4 large eggs
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups solid-pack pumpkin
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup chopped hazelnuts or other nuts (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-inch square baking pan or dish. Cut a length of parchment that will cover the bottom and two sides (makes it much easier to remove), and line the pan with it. Butter the lining as well. (Deb note: I used an 8-inch square, because it was what I had. It works, too, but the brownies are crazy thick and take much longer to bake, just to give you a heads-up.)

2. Melt chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water, stirring occasionally until smooth.

3. Whisk together flour, baking powder, cayenne, and salt in a large bowl; set aside. Put sugar, eggs and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; beat until fluffy and well combined, 3 to 5 minutes. Beat in flour mixture.

4. Pour half of batter (about two cups) into a separate bowl and stir chocolate mixture into it. If you find that it is a little thick (as mine was) add a little more batter (a few tablespoons or so) until it is more pourable. This is important because mine was quite thick, and the pumpkin half was quite thin, so I had trouble swirling the two together.

5. In other bowl, stir in the pumpkin, oil, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Transfer half of chocolate batter to prepared pan smoothing top with a rubber spatula. Top with half of pumpkin batter. Repeat to make one more chocolate layer and one more pumpkin layer. Work quickly so batters don’t set.

6. With a small spatula or a table knife, gently swirl the two batters to create a marbled effect. Be sure to get your knife all the way to the bottom of the pan–I didn’t, and ended up with a chocolate base, not that it is such a bad thing. Sprinkle with nuts, if using.

7. Bake until set, 40 to 45 minutes. Let cool in pan on a wire rack. Cut into 16 squares.

Have a nice weekend everyone!!

The Toothless Fairy

When we were in Oregon last month, Sassy wanted to play with one of our friends iphones. She saw that she could draw on it so she kept asking to play with it. His response to her was, "Lose a tooth or loose a limb. But you're going to have to lose something to play with my phone." He was kidding of course and obviously doesn't know my daughters determination when it comes to something she wants LOL! Hmmmm...wonder where she gets that from?

And oh boy, was it on. Her tooth was wiggly already, but that sent her on a mission to get that sucker out. It took her about 10 minutes, but she was finally able to pull it out. (All of us gagging in the process. SO nasty to watch a kid try to pull their tooth out!) Here she is with her BFF who lost her bottom tooth just the day before. (It was her daddy that told her she had to pull her tooth out to play with his phone)

Of course, when you lose a tooth, you have to look your best and put on a fancy outfit for it. :)

Goodmorning Mommy

Hearing those words every morning just make my day. What a wonderful way to start the morning. It's usually Stinkbug that gets up first. RARELY does Sassy drag herself out of her princess sleep before 9. My morning schedule is first, get my husband off to work with something that resembles some sort of breakfast. I try, I really do. Some mornings, I'm just not into it. But I am trying so that's what counts right? Truth be known, I am not a morning person. Oh, I can pretend, and actually am MUCH more of a morning person than my dear sweet husband, but still not too into being up early.

As soon as I get him off to work, I will try to sit and read my scriptures or a good book and try to "wake up" and then I hear little footsteps and such a sweet little voice say, "Goooooodmooooorning Mommy" And look up to see my little Stinkbug standing there holding her teddy bear. She climbs up on the chair with me and we'll snuggle and watch a show or read while we wait for sleeping beauty to make her entrance. ;)

Sassy on the other hand is like her Mama. She's totally into night time. She will stay up all night if I let her. Stinkbug sacks out pretty early so I get my snuggle time with my big girl before she goes to bed.

I treasure these times with my children. I love that they still love to cuddle and want to spend time with me. I hope it always stays this way. Well....one can hope right? Too bad we can't make them stop growing and just stay little forever.

Speaking of being little, look at this picture I found of Stinkbug as a baby...

Look at those cheeks would you!?!? I can't believe how fast the grow up.

I need some motivation today.

It has been one of those blah days already. And I'm tired today. I need some motivation to get my housework done and really start working out again. And I need to lose 40 pounds. Not an easy thing to think about for me and pretty overwhelming. But I need to do it.
After I had Sassy, I was diagnosed with Hypothyroidism. It makes any kind of dieting an uphill battle. Which means I have to work extra hard on it. But I am so tired of feeling this way. I want to be somewhere close to my pre-pregnancy weight and that would take a loss of 40+ pounds.
My mom recently lost more than that, and I really admire her drive and endurance. It's so hard to stick to something like that and see it all the way through. I find myself being highly motivated for a while and then just giving up.
What I find really hard is not knowing what is ok to eat and what isn't. Besides the obvious of course. But there are article and books and web pages on how just about every food is a "bad" food.
I've never been one to have a weight problem or have had to diet at all while I was growing up. But I realize that it's now time to do this. And the fact that I had to renew my license with the DMV and upon filling out the form for it, the DMV worker asked me if there was any information that I'd like to update on my license. (My license still has my weight as 105 lbs. HAHAHA!) So I looked at her with a "what are you implying" look on my face and said, "Um, no thanks. All my information is still the same" and just watched for her reaction.....ready for this?.......Her response was, "Well, I've always said that if you are pulled over, an officer isn't going to make you get out of your car and step on a scale, so I'd leave my info as is too."

HAHAHAHA!!!!!!!! I mean seriously, did she realize that she said that out loud?!?!

OK, so here is what I need. ANY advice on what has helped you lose weight and keep it off. I know I have readers who have been and are very successful with dieting and weight loss. How did you stay motivated? What are the foods that you stick to and stay away from? Do you make separate meals for your family? Do you have any cookbook suggestions? How long do you workout a day and what do you do for your workouts? Feel free to email me your responses if you don't want to put it in the comments here. Mamaology@gmail.com

Alrighty, I'm off to tape up these old high school photos of myself on the fridge and get on the treadmill.

***Have I dated myself enough yet? And yes, I know...The dresses and hair-do's are bad. No need to comment on their awesomeness! Oh well, at least I wasn't in highschool in the 80's. They could have been much worse. Or not. LOL!

Although, I would wear those dresses every day if I had to, just to have those arms back.

Speaking of cats....

Watch this. You won't be sorry.

Our Newest Family Member

So where we live, coyotes are rampant right now. They are seriously HORRIBLE. EVERY night we can hear them running through our property and everyone else's around us. They drive me crazy. And this past week, they got both of our little kitties. I'm heartbroken. I know it's a fact of life when you live in a place like we do, but they were family to us. And we miss them terribly.

Monday morning, when I realized that Oliver hadn't come home (one week after his sister Lilly disappeared), I realized that he just wasn't going to. He's NEVER stayed out all night before and NEVER not come when I called him. I looked everywhere for him. I know in my heart that he's gone. I told my husband that if he hadn't come home in the next couple days, that I was going to take the girls to the animal shelter to adopt an indoor only cat. So off we went. And we found one. He's such a doll and just has the cutest face I've ever seen. He makes the girls and I giggle every time he looks up at us. :) Sassy and Stinkbug named him Mr. Magoo. Or "Magoo" for short. Pretty clever huh? I love young minds. Haha. So without further adieu, I am pleased to introduce you to Mr. Magoo. Our 23 pound, medium haired, blue/cross eyed siamese. (Yes, you read that right, he's cross eyed LOL!!!!)

Pretty cute huh?

Sassy's First Night in Her Own Room

Sassy has been begging BEGGGGGING me to let her have her own room. Relentlessly. So today, I caved. We moved all the business stuff out of the extra room and moved all her stuff in. She has been SO excited about sleeping by herself without "sister waking her up ALLLLLLL the time" So I go in to check on her a little bit ago....I'd say the first night is going well. Wouldn't you??? ;)
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Where was she you ask? (I wondered the same thing....)
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And the view from her new room into Stinkbugs room (through the Jack-n-Jill bathroom in between). They were both laying at the foot of their beds so they could talk through the bathroom and still be able to see each other. Guess that wasn't close enough for Sassy. Haha.
She's not as big a girl as she thought she was. THANK GOODNESS! I'm so grateful for these little reminders that she's still my little girl with such a tender little heart. She cried tonight before bed because she said she was going to miss her little sister while she was sleeping. Awwwwww!

I have a feeling I'm moving furniture around again tomorrow :)

I love my sisters!

Even though we all live pretty far from each other, I know, without a doubt, that they are always there for me. A picture of the 3 of us together at the same time is pretty rare these days, so I thought I'd share a recent one. Aren't my sisters beautiful? :)
I have a ton of pictures to get on here, and little time to edit them all. My girls and I just got back from Oregon last week. It was GORGEOUS there and we had a blast. I'm working on getting the pictures from that trip up so stay tuned. I'll try to get some on here everyday for the next couple weeks. Ahhhh, a challenge to myself. Blog once a day for 14 days. Can I do it? Doubtful, but I'll try. :)

Oh and a little side note, I am just TOO excited not to share. In the beginning of November, my sister "T" (She's the blond one in the picture ;) ) and I are going to the Ingrid Michaelson concert together! Sister "S" (the redhead in the pic) is choosing to go on a trip to Las Vegas instead of going with us. Pffffft. Vegas*. WhatEVER. Like a trip there compares to the fun she would have with us and our bad selves. It's ok though "S", we'll make sure to take lots of pictures and photoshop you in. ;)

*Disclaimer: Sister "S" already had plans to go to Vegas, I just didn't check with her secretary before getting said concert tickets and planning this first. I'm totally bummed she won't be going with us. And will miss her terribly.

Ahhhh....another school year has started.

It's our favorite time of the day around here. School. Ahhhhhh....My girls just love it. It's amazing to me how they can bicker and argue to the high heavens, but when it's school time, there is not one fight. And we love the time together. I just can't wait to finish the school room. I'll post before and afters when it's all done. But for now, I'll just add the top 10 reasons why homeschooling ROCKS!

10. you can sleep past 6
9. homemade lunches
8. two words: field trips
7. dad gets to be the principal.
6. taking attendance takes less than 15 minutes.
5. free tutoring.
4. more free time for "socialization"
3. a chance to see that your parents really are smart
2. you get to hang out with your mom all day
1. praying is not against the rules!!!

This is going to be a great year!! I'll add my curriculum list soon. It's a fun one :)

any comments? I'd love to hear from you. Do you homeschool and have anything you'd like to share or comment on? What curriculum are you using this year? What other things are you doing for your kids?

Sassy's Kindergarten Picture

She was a superstar for me. She woke up yesterday and said, "Mommy, my front tooth is going to come out today! It's so loose" So yeah, we scrambled to get her Kindergarten pictures done before that happened. We had fun. I'll post some of the outtakes when I have more time. Some of her poses scared the crap out of me Haha. I'm definitely fearing for when this one gets older for sure!

And, her tooth still hasn't fallen out..... ;)

Sleeping Beauty

They look so sweet when they sleep don't they?

Baby Goats! Awwwwwwww

So one of our neighbors have baby goats! They are 3 weeks old and just the CUTEST little things. They were hopping and playing together and the girls just got the biggest kick out of it. We are going to the sale yard as soon as we get the back fence finished to get some. They are great to keep the overgrowth down on the property and they are really sweet and friendly. You can even walk them on a leash! Don't believe me? Watch this...



SO CUTE!

Here are some pictures from last night...

These are a couple of the babies.
Sassy and Stinkbug can be so sweet to each other sometimes!
Hey Stinkbug....You should keep an eye on that mama goat behind you......
Stinkbug!! WATCH OUT! Hahahaha!!!! (No she didn't butt her. Looks like she was about to though huh?)
Sassy, the Goat Whisperer ;)
Mmmmm....shoes......
"What, I wasn't going to eat your shoes....really I wasn't " ;)
Sassy giggling at the goats eating hay out of her hand.
"What are you lookin' at huh?..........Aren't I beautiful?......Look at my smile :) "

And that's all the pictures for now. :) The girls can't wait to go back and see them again. And neither can I. Hopefully we'll have some of our own really soon. Definitely cheaper than the lawn mower we'd need for this place! And cuter too.

Another wonderful visit with Great Grandpa and Great Grandma :)

Great Grandpa and Great Grandma B came out to our new house for the afternoon. We had a wonderful day with them and it was so nice to see them again. It's definitely something we need to do more often. Here are some pictures from our day...

My Little Sassy Girl :)
I love this picture of Sassy with her Great Grandpa.
SO CUTE! (Stinkbug never wants to look at the camera. She doesn't like the flash ;) )
Our family with Great Grandpa :) (And Stinkbug is STILL not looking at the camera)
With Great Grandma and Great Grandpa (Oh, Stinkbug looked up a little bit!)
On our way out to lunch... (And she's looking down again...)Oh my goodness, she LOOKED UP! Haha. Here we are at the restaurant. The food was awesome and the restaurant was really nice too. Definitely a place we'll go to again.

Thank you Grandpa and Grandma for coming out to see us. We really enjoyed our visit and we miss you so much! We can't wait to see you again!

Yummy Recipe Friday! Blondies (from a Brunette) ;)

Make these! You will NOT be disappointed. I promise. *I will be adding pictures to this post this next week, so make sure to check back on this one for pictures of this YUMMINESS* And make sure to check out the bottom of this post to add your link to your favorite recipes!

Blondies From a Brunette ;)
1 c. butter (not margarine), melted
2 cups brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoon vanilla
2 Pinches salt
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 c. roasted macadamia nuts
1 c. dried cherries (or dried fruit of your choice)
1 c. white chocolate chunks

1. Butter a 9x13" dish
2. Mix melted butter with brown sugar - beat until smooth. Beat in eggs and then vanilla.
3. Add salt, stir in flour.
4. Stir in nuts, dried fruit and chocolate chunks
5. Pour into prepared pan. Bake at 350°F 20-25 minutes, or until set in the middle. Careful not to over-bake, if they are a little gooey in the middle, they are PERFECT!!!!

OK, now your turn. Add your name and link to your recipe post in the spaces provided below! And make sure it's the direct link to your recipe post and not just your blog address! (So it will look something like this: http://mamaology.blogspot.com/2008/08/yummy-recipe-friday-blondies-from.html and not just your blog address) And it would also be helpful if you put your recipe name next to your name too! (Example: Cari-Blondies) Post one every friday :) It's perfect for all your weekend baking/cooking! And make these Blondies TODAY!

My great big HUGE find

And I mean HUGE literally. I stopped at a thrift store on my way home from the chiropractors a couple days ago and went in looking for button ups for more dresses. If I do it right, I can get THREE dresses out of this button up.

I put it on my bed for reference. My bed is a CA King. (It covers more than half the width of my bed!!)

WOAH!

That's a whole lotta print for that big man!!

And the best part is the tag. (With my Perez Hilton-esque photo editing hahaha)

Yes, that's 7 XL. Let me spell that out. XXXXXXXL. Oh my word. I'm going to be able to get a few dresses out of this thing. All for the whopping price of $2.50. :)

Action Shots!! Action Shots!! : )

I only have the trim left to add, but it's wearable, and Stinkbug HAD to wear her new dress. Here she is in all her modeling glory.....

I added a casing and elastic to the back to make it fit better






Just like her Mama! HA!

Goofy Kid :)

ALMOST done!